Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Riverbed Books
Pages: 292
Rating: ★
Synopsis
For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan. But all does not go according to plan: over the course of the vacation, secrets come to light, old and new humiliations are experienced, childhood rivalries resurface, and ancient wounds are exacerbated.
This is a story of the sides of ourselves that we choose to show and those we try to conceal, of the ways we tear each other down and build each other up again, and the bonds that ultimately hold us together. With wry humor and tremendous heart, Emma Straub delivers a richly satisfying story of a family in the midst of a maelstrom of change, emerging irrevocably altered yet whole.
My Thoughts
This book as been on my list since it came out last year. I was so excited to select it as my first book of the summer. I thought that it would be a great way to kick off the end of finals and the start of summer -- it was supposed to be a fun book that takes place in Mallorca, what could be better?
But I really hated this book. I don't even have anything more eloquent than that to say about it.
It was so boring. All of the characters were awful and were never given the chance to develop. I also didn't care about them at. all. There was no plot -- nothing ever happened. My day-to-day life is more exciting.
Seriously, save yourself. This book was just terrible.
My Favorite Line
It was crazy, what young people believed was possible, what so many earnest twenty-three-year-olds took for granted about the rest of their lives.
Pride and Prejudice is my all time favorite. I love the movie, the miniseries, and the book. I love the love story and the family dynamics.
This is one of those books that I just want everyone to read. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it. It is witty and a super fun read about the disappearance of Bernadette. Her daughter then compiles email messages, official documents, and secret correspondence to try and find Bernadette. It has a really different structure but it is carried out so well.
I love Harry Potter. They are all great books but my absolute favorite is The Prisoner of Azkaban, probably because Sirius Black is my favorite character. We learn so much more about Harry's parents as he tries to find out what his relationship is to the notorious Sirius Black.
Of course I love this book because it is basically Downton Abbey in book form. It is so great and I wish I could read it all over for the first time. Cora has gone abroad to find a titled husband to go with her wealth. Eventually she finds herself as the Duchess of Wareham and thrown into English Society.
I. Love. Mindy. Kaling. She just gets it. Her book had me laughing out loud and totally identifying with everything she said. Mindy really shows readers her life and gives her observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, I am patiently waiting until the Fall for her next book to come out.
This is another book where I wish I could read it again and not know what was going to happen. When Amy disappears, all roads lead to her husband Nick. Only he swears he didn't do it. As the story goes on more information is revealed. It is so twisted and so good.
The Goldfinch was last year's Pulitzer Winner for Fiction and for good reason. It follows the life of orphan Theo Decker and his art theft. If you like character driven novels then this is definitely for you.
Marina Keegan died five days after her graduation from Yale and The Opposite of Loneliness is a collection of her essays and short stories. This collection was so good it left me wanting a sequel.
I am slowly making my way through these books and loving every second. Claire Randall gets thrown back in time to the 1700's and has to choose whether to stay with the highlander who loves her or try and get back to the Husband she left behind. I can't recommend these books enough.
When it comes to covers, it doesn't get much prettier than this one. This book tells the story of the tangled lives of an innkeeper, a hollywood star, and a producer. Walter created really likable characters and it was a fun read.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Pages: 368
Rating: ★★★
Synopsis
After embarrassing themselves at the social event of the year in high society Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve of 1942, Maddie and Ellis Hyde are cut off financially by Ellis’s father, a former army Colonel who is already embarrassed by his son’s inability to serve in WWII due to his being colorblind. To Maddie’s horror, Ellis decides that the only way to regain his father’s favor is to succeed in a venture his father attempted and very publicly failed at: he will hunt the famous Loch Ness monster and when he finds it he will restore his father’s name and return to his father’s good graces (and pocketbook). Joined by their friend Hank, a wealthy socialite, the three make their way to Scotland in the midst of war. Each day the two men go off to hunt the monster, while another monster, Hitler, is devastating Europe. And Maddie, now alone in a foreign country, must begin to figure out who she is and what she wants. The novel tells of Maddie’s social awakening: to the harsh realities of life, to the beauties of nature, to a connection with forces larger than herself, to female friendship, and finally, to love.
My Thoughts
This book started out really promising. I was loving the characters and the time period. Even though it does take place in 1942, the war isn't the central point, so it was interesting to see how the wealthy society people of Philadelphia stood out in comparison with the war. The attitudes of Ellis and Hank were deplorable (evading the draft, rudeness to the staff etc.) but Maddie's softness made up for it.
Even though the plot line of the story seemed a little strange to me, I was really excited for them to go to Scotland to find the Loch Ness monster. Once they were in Scotland there was a huge shift in the plot. The monster hunting was put on the back burner and we began to see more of Maddie's daily life at the inn they were staying at and her relationships with the people she met.
Eventually, the book became a tad cheesy and very predictable. The ending, as I predicted, was tied up in a neat bow which was annoying and cliche. Also, Gruen would dump random wartime statistics in paragraph long sections that did nothing at all to move the plot along. This only served to remind you that it was in fact 1942 and not present day.
My Favorite Line
In all its beautiful, tragic fragility, there was still life, and those of us who'd been lucky enough to survive opened our arms wide and embraced it
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 384
Rating: ★★
Synopsis
When Lily Hayes arrives in Buenos Aires for her semester abroad, she is enchanted by everything she encounters: the colorful buildings, the street food, the handsome, elusive man next door. Her studious roommate Katy is a bit of a bore, but Lily didn’t come to Argentina to hang out with other Americans.
Five weeks later, Katy is found brutally murdered in their shared home, and Lily is the prime suspect. But who is Lily Hayes? It depends on who’s asking. As the case takes shape—revealing deceptions, secrets, and suspicious DNA—Lily appears alternately sinister and guileless through the eyes of those around her: the media, her family, the man who loves her and the man who seeks her conviction. With mordant wit and keen emotional insight, Cartwheel offers a prismatic investigation of the ways we decide what to see—and to believe—in one another and ourselves.
My Thoughts
I really wanted to like this, but I just couldn't.
I thought it would be an easy, breezy mysterious read but it wasn't. It jumps around between dates and point of views and backstories that I couldn't have cared less about. I wanted to hear the story from Lily's voice and chronologically, but that never happened. Instead, I learned about the failing marriage of the defense attorney and the Hayes family history. I found myself skipping entire sections of chapters simply because I didn't care about the characters nor did they have anything to do with moving the plot along. Instead of really developing the characters that were at the center of the plot, duBois developed all the characters I didn't really care about.
This book is based on the Amanda Knox trial in Italy and just like in any trial, the only person who knows what really happens at the end of the book is Lily Hayes. This annoyed me because I felt like I devoted a lot of time and effort to this book and at the end I don't even know anything for sure.
My Favorite Line
Everybody should have someone whose belief in them in unwavering, unconditional, always.
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Knopf
Pages: 508
Rating: ★★★
Synopsis
When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in America--even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.
My Thoughts
If you, like myself, are a member if Generation Y, then you absolutely have to read this book. The Circle has been sitting in my to-read list for about a year, but I finally got around to reading it. It was absolutely eye-opening and so interesting to read. The ending of the story was a little unfulfilling to me, but in the end its not really the story that you're paying attention to...its the role technology plays in our lives and how it can turn to control us.
This book is a dystopian satire of the way the internet and social media could be. This book was almost shocking because of the troubling ideas and themes - mostly, because we live in a world where The Circle (a kind of Google, Facebook, Apple super company) could absolutely happen.
There were so many times when I was reading that I thought that the world could so easily turn to this place where we only live within the confines of the internet. It has been compared many times to Orwell's 1984, and I couldn't agree more. This novel's release is perfectly timed for a world that could very quickly head toward the destruction that is described.
My Favorite Line
You willingly tie yourself to these leashes. And you willingly become socially autistic. You no longer pick up on basic human communication clues. You're at a table with three humans, all of whom are looking at you and trying to talk to you, and you're staring at a screen, searching for strangers in Dubai.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Pages: 400
Rating: ★★
Synopsis
Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford wants to travel the world, pursue a career, and marry for love. But in 1914, the stifling restrictions of aristocratic British society and her mother’s rigid expectations forbid Lily from following her heart. When war breaks out, the spirited young woman seizes her chance for independence. Defying her parents, she moves to London and eventually becomes an ambulance driver in the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps—an exciting and treacherous job that takes her close to the Western Front.
Assigned to a field hospital in France, Lily is reunited with Robert Fraser, her dear brother Edward’s best friend. The handsome Scottish surgeon has always encouraged Lily’s dreams. She doesn’t care that Robbie grew up in poverty—she yearns for their friendly affection to become something more. Lily is the most beautiful—and forbidden—woman Robbie has ever known. Fearful for her life, he’s determined to keep her safe, even if it means breaking her heart.
In a world divided by class, filled with uncertainty and death, can their hope for love survive. . . or will it become another casualty of this tragic war?
My Thoughts
So after I read The Accidental Empress, I was craving more historical fiction but nothing was jumping out at me. Somehow I stumbled upon this book and thought, WWI, Romance, Lords and Ladies...what could be so terrible?
Well, it was pretty bad. I usually like to read books I've heard of, or have some buzz behind them so when I saw this and hadn't had anything to go off of, I was a little nervous. I really liked the idea of the story, but it quickly got very cheesy. The story line is similar to Lady Sybil's in Downton Abbey...youngest daughter of an Earl runs off to join the war effort and falls in love with a middle class surgeon.
There's not much to say about this other than that. If you are looking for a quick (it took me less than 24 hours to read), easy, cheesy romance then I would definitely say that this is for you. I, however, will not be returning for the sequel. Nor will it have any lasting effect on me.
My Favorite Line
What kind of man had he been, to listen and sympathize and then walk away without a backward glance?
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Howard Books
Pages: 512
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis
The year is 1853, and the Habsburgs are Europe’s most powerful ruling family. With his empire stretching from Austria to Russia, from Germany to Italy, Emperor Franz Joseph is young, rich, and ready to marry.
Fifteen-year-old Elisabeth, “Sisi,” Duchess of Bavaria, travels to the Habsburg Court with her older sister, who is betrothed to the young emperor. But shortly after her arrival at court, Sisi finds herself in an unexpected dilemma: she has inadvertently fallen for and won the heart of her sister’s groom. Franz Joseph reneges on his earlier proposal and declares his intention to marry Sisi instead.
Thrust onto the throne of Europe’s most treacherous imperial court, Sisi upsets political and familial loyalties in her quest to win, and keep, the love of her emperor, her people, and of the world.
With Pataki’s rich period detail and cast of complex, bewitching characters, The Accidental Empress offers a captivating glimpse into one of history’s most intriguing royal families, shedding new light on the glittering Hapsburg Empire and its most mesmerizing, most beloved “Fairy Queen.”
My Thoughts
From the moment I first heard about this book I knew I had to read it. I really love anything historical fiction. I was especially interested because it was based on real people and real events.
Accidental Empress is about Empress Elisabeth "Sisi" of Austria. Initially, her sister, Helene, was arranged to marry the Emperor Franz Joseph. When Sisi and Helene go to meet the young Emperor, he is immediately taken by Sisi.
The story follows Sisi's life from meeting Franz Joseph up to their coronation as the King and Queen of Hungary. Even though the novel focused on Sisi, it did still discuss the changing times in the empire and the important artistic figures of the time.
The set up of this book was different from anything I had read before and really kept me from putting it down. Each chapter would begin with an excerpt from the Hungarian Coronation at the end of the book.
I really enjoyed learning more about these Habsburg rulers. I would only ever stop reading to look up more information about Franz Joseph, Sisi, and Count Andrássy. While it was fiction, a lot of the plot was driven by historical events or rumors.
Last year I read The American Heiress and I would definitely recommend that to anyone who enjoyed this book too!
My Favorite Line
I've won battles in Italy and Hungary. I'm the emperor, for God's sake. And yet you would conquer me with a smile.
